SCREENING FOR CARCINOMA CERVIX BY CORRELATING RESULTS OF CYTOLOGY, HISTOPATHOLOGY WITH COLPOSCOPY IN UNHEALTHY CERVIX

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: - Cervical cancer is one of the most frequent genital tract cancers and accounts for 80% of all female cancers worldwide. Annually the incidence is about 5 lakh and 2,80,000 people die due to carcinoma cervix yearly. In India 1,26,000 new cases are detected and 71,000 deaths occur annually. Cervical cancer is a preventable condition, since it is associated with prolonged pre invasive stage, so that early screening and appropriate treatment can be undertaken to prevent the progression into invasive stage. OBJECTIVES: - 1. To perform cytology, histopathology & colposcopy in patients with unhealthy cervix. 2. To correlate these tests to make a early diagnosis of cervical cancer. METHODS: - All the study subjects enrolled in our study were subjected to Pap smear, colposcopy & colposcopy directed biopsy. The data was statistically analysed for sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of Pap smear & colposcopy, with considering colposcopy directed biopsy as the gold standard for diagnosis. RESULTS: - Pap smear had a sensitivity and specificity of 69.2 percent and 88.2 percent respectively. The colposcopy had sensitivity of 97.4% % specificity of 88.5%. The colposcopy had higher xiv sensitivity but similar specificity & positive predictive value as Pap smear. According to our studies, the accuracy of colposcopy was higher than that of Pap smear. CONCLUSION: - Prompt identification of CIN in females is an appealing objective. CIN lesions and aggressive malignant growths are to be identified in a pre-invasive stage for initiating effective treatment. Carcinomatous growth of cervix is viewed as preventable since it is associated with a prolonged pre-invasive stage, which is ideal for screening and treatment. According to our study, the colposcopy was unquestionably more reliable than that of cervical smear because of its better sensitivity and accuracy. By combining Pap smear with colposcopy, we can make cervical screening programme an effective programme by reducing the mortality rate.